John Sullivan, described as a “left-wing grifter,” was charged by federal prosecutors for his role as an infiltrator during the barbarian invasion of the Capitol Building, but not before he cashed in big time from the liberal mainstream network media.
media funded infiltrator
According to reports, progressive network media giants CNN and NBC each shelled out serious money for “video from the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.” Allegedly they paid $35,000 each to “left-wing grifter” John Sullivan.
The defendant, hailing from Utah, “maintained that he attends raucous demonstrations as a journalist.” It’s okay, I post on YouTube. Actually, he’s more of a pro than that and has his very own website.
Sullivan likes to share his videos on “Insurgence USA” but he posts them around on other social media platforms too. “Sullivan’s defense attorney even filed invoices with the court showing that CNN and NBC each paid 26-year-old Sullivan’s firm $35,000 last month.” Not a bad haul.
That was “for rights to video he filmed of chaotic scenes outside and inside the Capitol.” What scored the big bucks was footage of “the deadly shooting of protester Ashli Babbitt by a U.S. Capitol Police officer.”
Federal prosecutors aren’t buying his story that he was just passively filming for the public press. They insist that he’s not “an innocent bystander.”
Instead, the feds allege that he was an “instigator” and was throwing gasoline on the fire to “cause additional chaos during the riot.” That’s one way to boost your media ratings.
The guise of journalism
Just because you’re filming with your cell phone doesn’t make you a journalist, even if you do cash in from the network media for it. “Under the guise of journalism,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Candice Wong alleges, “he is engaged in and incited violent activity, including the kind of destructive society we saw on January 6.” That’s not good. Especially when you film the evidence which later gets used against you.
“The defendant, according to his own video footage, apparently exhorted others to ‘burn this (expletive) down,’ ‘break that (expletive),’ and — amid the smashing of the speaker’s lobby doors — ‘Go! Go! Get this (expletive)!'” Prosecutors like to call that “extenuating circumstances” because they extend your sentence for those. Calling the barbarian invasion “revolutionary history” and scoffing that “it’s only a little jail time, I do this all the time,” is going to come back to haunt him.
Sullivan is used to being arrested so knew the drill when he was booked by Five-Oh last month. They charged him in a six-count federal indictment. Obstruction of an official proceeding, civil disorder, entering and remaining in a restricted building, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
He’s certainly no Trump supporter. He’s thinking up a way to have the media put money on his jail books but CNN says he won’t be getting any from them.
An official CNN spokesunit threw Sullivan under the bus. They won’t be showing his film on the air any longer. “On January 6th, CNN was contacted by a reputable agent regarding an eye-witness video from the Capitol Hill riots.”
According to the media outlet, they “entered into a one-week agreement for use of 44-seconds of key content, which was attributed to the witness on air. When his role in the event was later called into question, the company informed staff to cease all use of the video.” With 44 seconds of video selling for $35 grand, it’s a pretty good racket.
